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Nanomechanical recognition measurements of individual DNA molecules reveal epigenetic methylation patterns

Nature Nanotechnology volume 5, pages 788–791 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Atomic force microscopy1 (AFM) is a powerful tool for analysing the shapes of individual molecules and the forces acting on them. AFM-based force spectroscopy provides insights into the structural and energetic dynamics2,3,4 of biomolecules by probing the interactions within individual molecules5,6, or between a surface-bound molecule and a cantilever that carries a complementary binding partner7,8,9. Here, we show that an AFM cantilever with an antibody tether can measure the distances between 5-methylcytidine bases in individual DNA strands with a resolution of 4 Å, thereby revealing the DNA methylation pattern, which has an important role in the epigenetic control of gene expression. The antibody is able to bind two 5-methylcytidine bases of a surface-immobilized DNA strand, and retracting the cantilever results in a unique rupture signature reflecting the spacing between two tagged bases. This nanomechanical approach might also allow related chemical patterns to be retrieved from biopolymers at the single-molecule level.

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Figure 1: A single-molecule force spectroscopy experiment reveals the molecular distance between two 5-methylcytosine bases in a DNA strand.
Figure 2: A two-step unbinding event between antibody and methylcytosine-containing ssDNA.
Figure 3: Two-step unbinding from ssDNA with nine 5-methylcytidines separated by six nucleotides.
Figure 4: Single nucleotide resolution enables 5-methylcytidine sequencing and the detection of single epigenetic changes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank L. Wildling, R. Schlapak, C. Riese, C. Hesch, J. Jacak and C. Rankl for expert technical assistance, and G. Kada, G. Schütz, D. Blaas, A. Frischauf and C. Aberger for enlightening discussions. This work was supported by the Gen-Au project ‘Ultra sensitive Proteomics and Genomics’ from the Austrian federal ministry for education, science and culture (R.Z., S.H., J.Pröll, P.H.), the Austrian science fund project P15295 (H.J.G.), the Austria Nano-Initiative/NABIOS (R.Z., S.H., H.J.G., P.H.), the European Commission grant ‘Single Molecule Workstation (SMW)’ no. NMP4-SE-2008-213717 (R.Z., F.K., P.H.), and the Austrian Science Fund project L422-N20 (J.H.).

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  1. Johannes Pröll

    Present address: Present address: Red Cross Transfusion Service of Upper Austria, A-4020 Linz, Austria,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Biophysics, Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Linz, A-4040, Austria

    Rong Zhu, Ferry Kienberger, Johannes Preiner, Jan Hesse, Andreas Ebner, Vassili Ph. Pastushenko, Hermann J. Gruber & Peter Hinterdorfer

  2. Christian Doppler Laboratory for Nanoscopic Methods in Biophysics, Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Linz, A-4040, Austria

    Rong Zhu & Peter Hinterdorfer

  3. Center for Advanced Bioanalysis GmbH, Linz, 4020, Austria

    Stefan Howorka, Jan Hesse & Peter Hinterdorfer

  4. Department of Chemistry, University College London, London, WC1H 0AJ, UK

    Stefan Howorka

  5. Department of Internal Medicine I, Elisabethinen Hospital, Linz, A-4010, Austria

    Johannes Pröll

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Contributions

R.Z. performed the experiments and data evaluation. S.H. developed the surface chemistry and co-wrote the paper. J.Pröll performed the surface chemistry and selected the DNA sequences. F.K., J.Preiner and A.E. discussed the results. J.H. contributed to the surface chemistry. V.Ph.P. programmed the data evaluation. H.J.G. developed the tip chemistry. P.H. led the experimental design and wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Peter Hinterdorfer.

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Zhu, R., Howorka, S., Pröll, J. et al. Nanomechanical recognition measurements of individual DNA molecules reveal epigenetic methylation patterns. Nature Nanotech 5, 788–791 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2010.212

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